How to Cheat Death
by PrinceMittens
Summary: Years after the attack of the Nine-tails, the Fourth Hokage finds himself inexplicably alive in a world he had neither expected nor desired to return to.
1. 0) Namikaze Minato (0)

波風ミナト

* * *

A damaged soul can be the source of great pain, and in another universe, another set of possible outcomes, Orochimaru would have suffered that pain for seventy two days before he finally found a way to circumvent the spiritual damage he had suffered. It would be two years after that, during what would have been the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, before he would finally regain the spiritual portion of his arms that had been cut away from him by his old mentor

It is said that a person's personality, ideals, actions, and thought processes can undergo drastic changes under the stimulus of great pain. Such a saying would have held true for Orochimaru. In another world, he would suffer seventy-two days of non-stop agony, and in those seventy-two days, the snake Sannin would have cycled through several phases of despair, hatred, regret, self-pity, and destructiveness. The lives of a number of his subordinates would fall to his wrath in that period of time before he finally fixated and stopped on resignation. By then, the cold fury he'd harbored for years would have been melted away by the fiery, unforgiving pain. The flames of his hatred would burn out, its kindling used up in one massive bonfire.

At the end of that period, Orochimaru would have come out a different man, a more mellow human being whose ambition rarely went further than his general thirst for knowledge that he would retain until the end of his days, if it ever came to one such as he. No longer would he covet power as he once had, envisioning himself to be a great windmill of change.

But such a universe is mere conjecture, a fantasy. Orochimaru would undergo no such change in character. Far from the Hidden Leaf in the land of Grass and twelve years after the birth of the Fourth's son, Uzumaki Naruto, the snake Sannin cut open the Dead Demon's belly. The portion of his soul that had been his arms returned to his body instead of drifting away into the afterlife. His would not be the only one.

In another part of the continent, deep inside the storage room of a certain temple, a storage scroll fell to the floor and rolled itself wide open. Its conditions for the release of its content fulfilled, the seal that had been scrawled onto the scroll's white parchment surface flickered and then radiated a sickly blue light.

And so it was that, twelve years after his supposed death, a man finds himself sitting inside a dark, musty room which he would later discover to be one of the underground storage spaces underneath a place known as the Temple of Fire, a sacred temple where Shinobi from all across the Land of Fire who sought the spiritual path, to redeem the sins of their professions, were gathered.

The man sat unmoving, his eyes riveted on the scroll from which he had been released. On the corner of the scroll, separate from the now defunct patterns of the storage seal which had held his body, were a set of glowing blue letters, a command. It told him all he needed to know as to what had happened.

He stared, he breathed, and he stared some more, unable to move his eyes off the message and the achingly familiar handwriting in which it had been written.

生

き

て

(Live)

And he did, unwillingly, his heart beating a stubborn rhythm and his breath coming out slow and measured. He sat on the cold, earthen floor and stared at the message. He didn't move, nor did he take his eyes away from the scroll. He remained still, even when his stomach began to tell him that he was hungry, even when his body told him that it needed sleep and his eyes began to feel a heavy strain in that underground darkness.

It was some hours before sunset when Orochimaru had split the Dead Demon's belly, but it was near sunrise of the next day before Namikaze Minato finally stirred from where he was sitting. Maybe she was alive. She'd had the strength to set up a storage seal after all. He felt a desperate euphoria of hope as he staggered around the blackness looking for an exit.


	2. 0) Nine-tailed Demon Fox (0)

九尾狐妖

* * *

The sky was alit with flames. Meteoric tongs of fire fell from the smoke-covered sky, raining upon the village in a fiery hellstorm. The air was filled with dust and thick reverberations of sound. Sounds of panic, of fear, of unadulterated terror. It was a symphony of death, and its director stood at the center of it all, his massive tails swaying with the guise of gentleness.

He was the Nine-tailed Demon Fox - Kyuubi, a mythical creature whose very presence was considered a natural catastrophe. His roar drowned out the chorus of screams around him. His paws trampled upon buildings like a child would upon a garden of sand castles.

Hundreds of tiny human figures surrounded him and prodded him warily with projectiles, explosives and weapons, all of which bounced harmlessly off the thick miasma of Chakra that shrouded his body. They might as well have been throwing pebbles. Although it didn't hurt him, their actions angered him nonetheless, the pointless pebble-flinging. In fact, everything they did angered him. He had been imprisoned and used as a weapon of war for over a hundred years. He was a weapon of mass destruction, a fact which was constantly held over the heads of those who opposed the ones who wielded his power. The Great Demon Fox had been made a tool, a slave.

The humans did nothing but fight, squabbling over land and petty feuds. Killing each other with no more compunction than they would if they were swatting flies. The humans hated each other with passion, rewarding and praising those who could best consummate that hatred with slaughter.

The current leader of the Hidden Leaf Village was a prime example. The man was widely considered the paragon of virtue and justice; he was practically revered. What made him so renowned was his ability to kill better than his peers. A Shinobi of great talent, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf had once slaughtered an entire army - over a thousand men, women and children - in a single day. And he was put on a pedestal for it. This man, this leader of the village, then turned around like the hypocrite he was and acted as if he would never hurt fly. He had a family, despite the many families he had destroyed. He had and valued love, though it was the murder of so many of its kin that afforded it to him. He had strength, and that, in their hatred, was all the humans cared about. Their leader was a killer among killers. The best of the best. He couldn't understand their anger against the Shinobi of other nations for killing one of their own when they were guilty of the very same. Hate-filled hypocrites, all of them.

Over the centuries, their hatred filled him. He hated them. He hated them more than they hated each other. The Sage had been wrong. There was no guiding these pests. The world would be better without them.

He hated them.

Lifting his sights toward the sky, he let loose a shower of flames from his jaws.

The people screamed and ran. Their homes crumbled and burned.

A child, frozen in terror, gaped up at him stupidly with tears streaming down its cheeks. He thought of what the child would become, the lying, the killing, the hypocrisy.

The world was better without humans. He would destroy every last one of them and rid the world of its greatest pest.

Scores of the village's defenders fought at him as he lumbered toward the terrified child. He fought them off with no effort whatsoever, and as he approached his target, he grinned his widest grin. He could taste the fear drifting off the tiny child in droves, and he savored it. It merely stared up at him, consumed by the entirety of the nightmare that he was as he crushed the buildings to the child's left and right. And then, as he was about to deliver the final blow, to end the child's misery, a woman, one of the defending Shinobi, seemed to dash out of nowhere. The child was saved, carried off into the distance where he knew those too weak to fight were being gathered.

No matter. They wouldn't be surviving long. For now, he had many others to distract himself with.

The number of Shinobi that approached him seemed endless. Most of them came to be torn to shreds by his claws, to be splattered onto some surface like water balloons, and to be incinerated in the hellfire he summoned upon those too slow to avoid their inevitable doom. The village was his playground and the people his playthings to be tossed around and torn apart at will. Trampling about like a child throwing a tantrum, he engaged in a game of pest extermination.

There were those who threw themselves at him with abandon, and there were those who ran for their lives. Still others simply cowered in place, and those who hid themselves in the walls of their homes were crushed along with the places in which they'd believed themselves to be safe from his wrath. He would destroy everything, and when the Fourth Hokage arrived, he would turn the place into ashes. He would teach humanity to despair. The Hidden Leaf Village would be the first of many.

It wasn't long before the initial fear that had filled the night was coupled by a seething new emotion, by hatred. Hatred for the loss of the ones they loved and the homes they held dear. Hatred of him, the Demon Fox. They loathed him, as they were wont to do. He felt it running along his back, growing restlessly, helplessly, angrily.

A petty hatred, it was. Nothing compared to the loathing he felt for them, one that had been built up over the century. He'd had plenty of time trapped inside a seal, speared and gutted by Uzumaki chains, to let his compassion rot and his hatred grow. Having been left in those hellish prisons for a hundred years had made him incomparably bitter.

He swept around to survey the sources of the hostility that he felt rolling against him, his eyes sharp, intelligent and wrathful.

He roared. The humans cowered.

A man, a would-be hero, surged out of the air, a long, flaming katana in his hands. It was a weapon, laced with a special chakra, which could inflict lasting damage even unto a mythical beast. It was the elite Jonin. Yuhi Shinku.

The Fox brought two of his nine tails crashing into the village streets. A hurricane force of wind swept up from the earth. From the sky lightning crackled, cleaving buildings and uprooting trees. The man was swatted away and incinerated.

" **Come, little humans!** " He challenged menacingly. " **Come to me and die!** **"**

The hatred diminished, eclipsed by a resurgence of fear.

Above, the full moon broke out from behind the clouds. It was a wonderful night to be the powerful Nine-tailed Demon Fox, a wonderful night to be freed.


	3. 0) Uzumaki Kushina (0)

うずまきクシナ

* * *

Even as she lay dying, her face gaunt from both the procedure and the labor of childbirth, he knew he could not stay with her, to bring her proper treatment and to do everything he could to keep her alive. He did not have that luxury.

The air was filled with the Demon Fox's malicious aura. The earth which shook beneath his feet did not bode well for his village. Even from his distance, he could see the form of the gigantic fox, glowing red against the horizon and looking deceptively tiny.

"I'll be fine." She assured him. "You have to save them."

She lay on her back, the baby burbling softly in her arms. His son, born only an hour before, snuggled peacefully against his mother's frail body.

"Kushina." He said blandly, afraid to let emotion into his voice, afraid to break down. The fact that she was even alive was a miracle. The extraction of a Tailed Beast from a human vessel was unfailingly fatal. The vitality of her blood, the blood of an Uzumaki, was the only reason she was alive.

"You know what I have to do."

"If worst comes to worst." She nodded and smiled weakly. "Maybe this was meant to be."

From the distance came the faint echo of a monstrous roar. He shut his eyes, willing back the tears. When he opened them again, she was watching him patiently. "I love you." She whispered.

He knelt and swept the sweat-plastered hair out of her face. "Our son. He has to be the next vessel."

Her smile faltered, and her lips turned up in the familiar way that it did when she didn't like something. "No."

"He's the only Uzumaki left."

Kushina shook her head violently and held their child closer to her body. "I can take the Fox with me. I… I can die and take it with me. I'm already dying anyway."

The winds blew fiercely through the trees, an unnatural wind which was only barely kept back by the barrier he'd elicited in the area. The longer he waited, the more destruction he would see upon his return to the village.

"Kushina-"

"You've seen what it was like for me to live as a vessel. The fear, the distance and the loneliness that comes with it will only create suffering. I don't want him to suffer."

Naruto whined and burrowed into her chest at his mother's severe tone. Kushina rubbed the baby's back gently and comfortingly. Her voice softened. "I don't want him to be subjected to that. I don't want him to have to suffer like I did."

"You're right."

Kushina frowned, knowing that there would be more to it than him admitting that she was right.

"But the Nine-tailed Fox would also afford him great power, power which I feel the village will need. The masked man, he will come back. I am sure of it. And when he does, we'll need something to stop him. And there will be others like him."

"You don't know that." She argued weakly, knowing that she was wasting valuable time. She couldn't help it. This was her son - _their_ son - that they were talking about.

"The village will need him someday. They will need his power. I trust the village, Kushina. I trust my friends to be able to protect him and help him lead a normal childhood. I trust my people. The village-"

"It's always the village isn't it?" She asked defeatedly. A feeling of exhaustion began to consume her, an exhaustion which should have settled in long ago after what she'd been through, and she felt a sudden need to close her eyes and sleep. A blackness wavered in her vision. With considerable effort, she fought it back and held it at bay. "The village and its people. The greater good. No room for us to be selfish." She felt like crying, but she didn't.

Gently, he took their baby into his arms, and she let him.

The setup for the procedure was done with immaculate efficiency. The foundations of what was to be the ceremonial setting for the sealing process was put up in an instant. The Eight-trigram seal that would hold the Nine-tails was drawn quickly and cleanly onto the new vessel's healthy, fat belly.

Naruto laughed as the seal was inscribed, and he smiled happily up at his father.

Namikaze Minato, Fourth Hokage and leader of the Hidden Village, looked down at his son and smiled back. "It'll be ok." He said to the uncomprehending baby lying at the center of a matrix of seals and swathed in warm cushions

He stood and felt for the Flash marker that was located at the head of the Hokage Monument. It was a form of instantaneous transportation that only he was capable of performing alone. His ability to flit through a battlefield with unparalleled speed had earned him the title of Yellow Flash, a name revered by the people of the Hidden Leaf and spoken of in fear by the village's enemies.

"Minato." Kushina called before he could vanish.

He turned and went to her.

"Take me to him." She requested, gesturing towards their son. And he understood. She was too weak to walk on her own.

Hoisting her up in his arms, he carried her and placed her gently next to the cot in which Naruto lay in a doze. He placed his lips on her forehead and kissed it. The stench of salt, sweat and hard labor filled his nose. "I'll be back." He promised.

"I'll be waiting." She replied simply.

And then he was gone.

Kushina sidled up to her baby, and stroked the light fuzz of blonde hair on his head.

"Naruto."

The baby's eyes opened and it looked at her as if recognizing his own name. He was adorable.

Kushina contented herself with just stroking his hair and looking at him. She spoke to him softly, lovingly, imparting upon him words of wisdom - how she thought he should live his life, what she thought he should do to find happiness, what she thought he shouldn't do, things she thought he should avoid, things she thought he should be in the habit of doing.

She gave him words of advice and words of love, knowing already that she would not be there in the future to tell him these things, that she would not be there to watch him grow. Already, her vitality was fading. She'd never felt so tired in her life. Internally, she could feel that her Chakra coils were damaged beyond repair. She could feel the Chakra circulating sluggishly through her head, her heart, her extremities, and, most painfully, her belly, the place where her central coils lie, where the seal that had held the Nine-tailed Fox had been broken and the Fox torn forcefully from her body.

No. She would not be watching her baby grow. She would not be there to hear him utter his first words or to walk his first steps. She wouldn't be there for him. At least he would have a father. He would not be an orphan like she had been. Even if he wouldn't have a mother, he would have the Fourth Hokage himself to teach him, to raise him and to help him excel. Minato was going to be a wonderful father, she just knew it. Even if she couldn't be there to watch him, Naruto was going to have a good childhood, a good life, and, at that moment, there was nothing more she wanted than to watch her son grow up. She wanted to see him succeed and be happy. She wanted to meet his first girlfriend. She wanted to brag about him to others.

She wanted to live. She didn't want to die. Not yet. Not if it meant missing so much.

Naruto stared up at her with his adoring eyes and smiled, his little arms flailing happily. He was an energetic baby.

Kushina stroked her son's hair and cried.


	4. 0) Umino Iruka (0)

うみのイルカ

* * *

He'd trained his entire life to prepare for anything, even death. Or so he'd thought. One who pursued the line of Shinobi must work intimately with all sorts of horrors. Yet when twelve year old Umino Iruka found himself at the foot of a massive Demon taller than the mountain overseeing his home and more powerful than he could ever imagine something could be, he could not bring himself to even move to save himself from its slow approach. Such was the fear which bound him.

There was death everywhere, homes shattered, people crushed like insects on the once immaculate village streets. Spatters of blood and ashes, once human, could be seen on various surfaces.

Iruka had never been more terrified in his entire life, not even when his Genin scouting squad had been captured by a couple of Hidden Earth Shinobi. At least then, there had been hope. Hope of being rescued, of the innate humanity that might have existed within the hearts of their captors. But inside that massive beast shrouded in an aura of thick, almost palpable malice, there was no humanity

There was only evil.

And when this demon of evil, its jaws wide and grinning, had turned one of its hellish red eyes toward him, Iruka's legs had buckled under him. He'd thought on his life, thought on how little he'd accomplished, how much he'd wanted to grow up, to make friends. He'd thought on the present he was going to get for his mom for her birthday that was going to happen in two weeks. He'd thought of Hiyomi, the girl he had a crush on, and how he had always felt too shy to even talk to her, how he should have talked to her. Even just a hello would have done. None of that mattered now, none of it seemed real.

His thoughts went as quickly as they came, swallowed by an all-consuming fear. The eyes seemed to narrow in on him, tiny as he must seem to it. He couldn't think. He couldn't feel. He couldn't breath. Only the fear existed. The fear and the Demon itself, who was lumbering toward him with derisive leisure. Many Shinobi flanked it, doing everything they could to impede the destruction it wrought to everything around it. Iruka could even recognize one of the defenders. There was the assistant teacher at the academy, Chuunin-Shinobi Takeshi, drawing his long katana and plunging it deep into one of the Demon's massive arms. He was slapped like a mosquito, becoming a mere spot on the Demon's pelt. The katana's handle fell away, its blade seeming to disappear into the monster's flesh. Not even a mark remained on the spot where the academy teacher had thrown away his life to inflict damage upon.

Mr. Takeshi had died for nothing, as did many others.

And when Iruka, sitting in the streets right outside his home, watched his neighbor's house being crushed into splinters with Mrs. Hayakawa still huddling inside, he did not move. When those same paws swept through the streets right above his head, tearing through his favorite convenience store and its neighboring apartment complex, he wet himself but remained where he was. His attention was riveted on the monster looming above him, its red, slitted eyes glowing with a malicious joy as it raised its paws to finally free him from his nightmare.

And as he saw the claws swinging down, he finally shut his own eyes, welcoming the darkness, welcoming his death. Nothing happened. When he reluctantly opened his eyes again, minutes later, he had been carried far from the streets of his home. He had been taken to the outer perimeters of the village Forest. The Demon was no longer anywhere in sight, but he could still hear the sounds of its rampage. Its shrieking roar carried by the wind, rung in his ears. He could still feel its aura, and, from within the arms of his rescuer, Iruka felt hot tears stinging in his eyes. The relief which overwhelmed him was so strong he collapsed bonelessly and had to be held up.

"Iruka." His rescuer released him. It was his mother. Her birthday was going to be in two weeks. She was wearing her Chuunin jacket, and her voice sounded strange. It was then that Iruka finally noticed the blood coming out of her mouth. Her hands were cold and clammy as it held onto his shoulders. "Are you hurt?" She asked, as if unaware of her own condition.

"Mother?" He croaked out, the question in his voice demanding to know what was wrong as he stared at her and feared the worst.

"Iruka."

Iruka looked past his mother's shoulder to see his father regarding him solemnly.

"I'll take care of your mother. You need to head to the Eastern Forest. All the young ones are gathered there. It's where you'll be safe."

"No!" Iruka said, the urgency returning strength to his voice. He knew what they really meant to do. He wasn't stupid. "No way! I'll go with you. I'll protect you and mom. I'll-"

" _CUT THE CRAP!_ "

Iruka balked, his voice trailing off into silence at his father's sudden flare of anger.

"Parents are supposed to protect their children!"

"But-"

"Get out of here!" His father bellowed.

Another roar cut through the air, one many times more vibrant than the one his father had just made. It ripped into his ears, and the fear returned. Fear not for himself this time, but for his parents. If they went, they would die. He knew they would die. They would only be stalling the Demon's time. After watching the thing destroy his home and everything around him, Iruka knew that the Demon was only playing along. The destruction and death, it was all a game. His parents would die for the Demon's amusement.

A new emotion bubbled in his belly, one which fought the fear fiercely. Anger, hurt, pain and hatred. A helpless fury grew in him, and he refused to leave. He would fight with his parents, he would protect his mother.

Bur before he could even open his mouth to refuse, a Shinobi, one he did not recognize but who must have been with them the entire time, grabbed him, held him down and then carried him away.

He could only watch as his mother wobbled to her feet, watch as she joined his father. A long gash ran down her back - a direct injury from the Demon's sharp claw, and he couldn't believe she was even standing. It was the last he saw of them before they headed off in the direction of the Demon which he now hated more than anything. He watched, he struggled, and he cried, screaming to be released. Screaming to be let go, to fight with his parents. To protect them.

"You need to survive." His captor said gruffly. "Don't trample on your parents' dying wish."

At his captor's words, Iruka's struggle diminished. So they knew. They knew the risk they were taking. They knew. Yet they still went. There was nothing he could do. His parents were going to die and there was nothing he could do. His home had been destroyed and there was nothing he could do.

A sob tore out of his throat as he began to cry in anguish. He cried at the loss of his parents, at the destruction of his home, and at his own helplessness. He cried for his neighbor and for the convenience store from which he used to buy ice cream. He cried for Mr. Takeshi, and lastly, he cried in self-pity, all the while praying to be woken from this nightmare reality where everyone died and everything is destroyed.


	5. 0) Namikaze Minato (1)

波風ミナト

* * *

The Fox had been pushed away from the village by the time he'd arrived. The old, retired Third Hokage had donned his armor once more and had kept the Fox from further destroying the village by pushing it out of the village with his Rod of Heaven, a massive extendable pole that jutted directly into the Nine-tails' midriff. The Chakra signatures of many brave men and women were being extinguished left and right as they gave their lives to distract the Nine-tails to sate its lust for blood and keep it from bounding back towards the village. How many had died, how many more would die he couldn't bear to fathom.

He'd wasted too much time, selfishly prolonging what he knew to be some of the last moments he would have with his wife. And his selfishness had come at the cost of many lives.

Just nearly a mile out from the village, the Fox turned its head toward the Hokage Monument on which he stood. It sensed him and recognized his presence. How could it not? It had been sealed inside Kushina after all. He and Kushina had been close since they were children. The Fox recognized him alright.

And it hated him.

Ignoring the many Shinobi pestering it with useless explosives, the Demon collected itself. A dark spherical concentration of Chakra began to form in the epicenter of its jaws. The Shinobi surrounding it began to panic. They could feel the sheer, destructive power contained in that purple-black sphere. It was enough to wipe out entire landscapes and decimate mountains.

From his vantage-point, Minato could feel the entirety of the Demon's wrath being concentrated on his person. The Fox was blaming him for his hypocrisy, for being a killer among men held in high esteem for his natural talent. Most of all, he felt a senseless, rampant hatred, a rage so black it seemed to be endless in depth.

And then the ball was released, shot towards the village like a bullet.

Minato placed his hands in a seal and, with the same ability he used to transport himself across space-time to arrive at where he currently stood, he created an entry point directly on the point of impact, the faces of the Hokage Monument.

The bomb entered the mountainside seamlessly like water through a permeable film, seeming to vanish entirely from sight.

The bomb was transported many kilometers away into the deserts near the Valley of Ends via a Flash marker. The sky lit up, and for an instant, the night receded and the blue of the sky returned. The moment was soon followed by earthquake tremors, and the air vibrated with the pressure of wind and sound.

Then, from amidst the chaos, the Fourth Hokage spoke to the Demon, knowing that it would pick up his words with its incomparably sharp ears.

"If you hate me, then come. I will be your opponent."

The Demon's roar was deafening and it charged toward the village. The Third Hokage's Pole of Heaven that had initially held it back suddenly seemed no more than a mere stick to be batted aside.

Finding the Flash marker near the outer perimeters of the village that he had felt earlier, Minato put himself in the Fox's path. The retired Third Hokage stood behind him with a small squad of people. Apparently the old man, in a moment of ingenuity, had went out of his way to find and keep a Flash marker with him.

"Minato!" The village's former leader called.

Minato turned briefly to give the elder his winning smile, the one which could charm the knickers off a bonobo. "Take care of my son." Was all he managed to say before vanishing and taking the Demon with him.

It was the last thing Sarutobi Hiruzen, the one-time God of Shinobi and Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, would hear from his successor. He would never see the man alive again.


	6. 0) Sarutobi Hiruzen (0)

猿飛ヒルゼン

* * *

The village's defenders, a score of some of the best Shinobi left in the village who had been throwing themselves one-by-one, unrelentingly at the Demon Fox, were beginning to gather around the Third. The disappearance of the Fox had given them temporary respite but had also left them with no clear purpose.

"The Fourth has given us a moment to collect ourselves. But it is no indication that he will be able to subdue the Nine-tails by himself."

He looked around at his soldiers. Their faces were lined and haggard. They were tired, they were scared. They had watched many of their own die this night for no more reason than to simply stall the Nine-tails' attention. Many seemed at their limits. Their eyes, however, were lit with a slow-burning fire, a fire which burned directly from the flames in their hearts. It was the Hidden Leaf's Will of Fire - the will to protect those that were huddling in fear inside the village walls - and it never seemed to be burning stronger than it did tonight.

He would have the people he needed.

Hiruzen looked each of the brave people standing before him in the eyes with utmost sincerity. "Many have already given their lives and many more have been taken from us. You have been brave, but our task is not yet finished. Those who are still willing to put their lives on the line for our village, for our family and for our people, come with me. We shall find our Fourth Hokage and we shall do what we can to assist him.

"Those who would return and ensure the security of your loved ones, you may do so." He added as an alternative. With that he went off, moving as fast as his old feet could carry him toward the evil aura that emanated from far over the horizon. Only a small contingent followed behind him.

The rest headed back in the direction of the village to count casualties, to see if those they cared about were still alive, and to sift through the wreck that had been their homes.

He didn't blame them. The aftermath of the night would be wrought with grief and political backlash. There would be a lot of reconstruction and many burials. Even if they did manage to vanquish the Fox, the Leaf's security and position as one of the Great Five Shinobi Nations would be in peril for a time.

Already, the village's former leader thought on how to put up a front to ward off and deter potential invasion from other ambitious Shinobi states.

And then there was the mysterious murder of his wife and his niece along with the disappearance of Kushina. The Nine-tails' release was the work of another human being, perhaps an invader. How one could have gotten past the wards set up by the Fourth Hokage himself he had yet to figure out, and he wondered whether Kushina was even alive.

So many deaths and so little time to grieve. As he neared the source of the night's disaster, as the air grew heavy and breathing became slightly more difficult, the old Kage felt an acute sensation of loss.


	7. 0) Uzumaki Kushina (1)

うずまきクシナ

* * *

The Fox came crashing down from the sky on the outer perimeters of the barrier seal. Two giant toads sat their girths atop the massive tailed-beast, one trapping its neck between a large fork-like weapon and the other sitting squat on its flank.

Yet even with two of the largest toads that could be summoned holding it down, the Nine-tails refused to be subdued. And when Minato saw that his toads and the seal of weakening that he had prepared fail to achieve what he had intended, he began to feel a deep resignation. The Fox screeched and fought, and the toads struggled, their hold on the monster being slowly wrested away.

He could only try. Running his hands through the various seals, he prepared to funnel the beast into his son's body. Naruto slept peacefully and Kushina watched him worriedly.

The Fox chortled. " **You cannot seal me**. **Release me now and your deaths shall be swift and painless.** "

The seal refused to activate. The Fox simply had too much Chakra. The seal could not contain it.

Kushina stared wide-eyed at her husband as his planning fell apart. He had underestimated its strength.

And it was breaking free. Minato was running out of time.

Kushina placed her hands one more time on her sleeping baby's head, making sure that the Illusion of sleep that she had put on him would hold. She was at her limit, and every move she made brought her closer and closer into the blackness. Already, the colors of the world had faded. She could no longer distinguish between the blonde of Minato's hair and the reddish orange of the Nine-tails' swishing namesakes. Everything hurt, every nerve burned and pulsed feverishly as her body fought a battle whose victor had already been determined.

How easy it would be to just let death take her there and then, to end her body's painful struggle.

The first of the two massive toads was sent flinging into the trees, and Minato turned away from the Tailed beast, away from the sealing ceremony he had failed to perform.

He turned to her, his colorless eyes pleading for her help.

And she understood. He had violated his Summoning Contract to call on not one but two of the giant toads, and had believed that it would be enough. What neither of them had accounted for was the failure of the ceremony, of the sheer mountain of Chakra contained within the Nine-tails. Yet, even as she broke the limits of her endurance, even as she did the impossible to stoke her broken coils to do what she could, she knew that the calculating man she had married had factored her in as a failsafe, knew that even though he hadn't expected anything to go wrong, the leader of the Hidden Leaf wasn't one to take risks.

Her help, like her death, had been a forgone conclusion.

Ethereal chains erupted from her back, puncturing the Fox's limbs as it shrugged off the last of the Toads. More chains followed, tying down its tails and dragging its head down into the earth.

" **You bitch!** " The Demon screeched, knowing the state of her health. " **Just die!** "

Kushina's vision swam as a heavy malice washed over her. She wouldn't be able to hold the Fox down for long, not in her current state.

"-have to split its Chakra in two." Minato was saying as her attention came back into focus. "There's only one way I know how."

" **I will destroy everything!"** The Demon bellowed. " **I will smash your child like the insect he is!** "

Kushina ignored the belligerent beast and laughed feebly. It seemed fate wanted to take everything. Naruto was going to be an orphan after all.

"The Dead Demon Consuming Seal." Kushina ventured

Minato nodded in confirmation.

"Then _do it_." She begged through the blinding pain. "I can't hold it much longer."

The Demon howled in rage as the toads it had so fervently fought off came back, their efforts now joined with those of the last Uzumaki seal-master.

Minato clapped his hands together and the Dead Demon contract which she had shared with him was invoked. A demon loomed out of the earth, its eerie mask-like face fixed in an eternal, leering grin.

"Namikaze Minato!" Kushina called out before the Dead Demon could take its summoner's soul. "Thank you. For giving me love, for giving me happiness. Thank you for all the time we could spend together. Thank you, for giving me the life I'd never have without you. Thank you. I love you."

There was no response as Minato concentrated, willing the Dead Demon to do his bidding and cutting the Nine-tail's potent spirit into two.

And then it was over. The mythical Demon Fox fought with all its strength to resist the pull on its spirit, but to no avail. With half the Nine-tails held in his control, Minato activated the Eight trigram seal on himself and turned himself into a vessel.

He emitted a short gasp of pain, then proceeded to seal the other half of the Nine-tails into his son. The remaining half, still sentient but weaker in strength, was funneled into its new vessel. It fought valiantly, refusing to be imprisoned once more.

The roar it unleashed was deafening.

" **You will regret this! When I am freed, I will turn your village to ashes! I will-!** "

And then the Fox was gone, locked away, its single night of freedom from over a hundred years of imprisonment cut short. The Toads gave their dead summoner one last disapproving look and returned to the realms from which they came.

The Hidden Leaf village was saved, and lying crumpled in the center of the clearing was the lifeless body of its leader, his soul taken by the Dead Demon he had summoned as the cost for invoking its power.

Kushina found herself staring disbelievingly at the husk of the man she'd loved, found herself unable to fathom the fact that he was actually dead. The blackness broke through, and began to shade everything into a dull grey. This couldn't be the end. To die with so much left ahead of them. It couldn't end like this.

She crawled away from little Naruto, who lay in his baby-crib, sleeping restfully. The only mark left from having the Nine-tails bonded to him were a light set of whisker-like lines on his cheeks and the seal swirling black on the skin of his belly. In time, that too would fade, only to be made visible under special circumstances.

Kushina clawed her way forward, every breath laboring against her and dragging her deeper into the blackness. She collapsed onto her husband's lifeless corpse, laughing and sobbing at the same time.

"Minato." she called, receiving no response. Namikaze Minato remained dead, and as she stared into his familiar face, she had a sudden, impulsive thought.

Although without a soul, his body was still in perfect condition. It could be preserved. The Dead Demon's belly could be cut open and the souls that were trapped inside could be released. They would simply have to find the mask of the Dead Demon, which, if she remembered correctly, was kept in one of the shrines of her old home. As long as the mask was found, someone could put it on, instantly invoking the Dead Demon, and offer their life as a tribute.

She thought on the notion that anyone would do such a thing so spontaneously and laughed.

Fate was a bitch, but she would try as long as the possibility was there. It was the only thing she could take back for herself, the only thing she could wrest from that sadistic whore who had seen fit to take nearly everything she'd cherished in a single stroke.

Her body screamed at her to fall, to finally die and be at rest. And she refused.

Uzumaki Kushina could not die. Not yet.


	8. 0) Namikaze Minato (2)

波風ミナト

* * *

When he first saw the Fox and felt its potent Chakra, he'd known immediately that the seal would not work. Still, he'd hoped against hope. There was only one other alternative and he was afraid to take it, didn't want to take it. He hadn't expected to die so soon. He needed to live, if only just a little longer, long enough to help the village recover from the night's disaster, long enough to make sure that Naruto would be in good hands

But when he'd tried to apply the seal, it hadn't worked. He'd known but he'd still tried. His hopes had been failed. There was no other way. He had to do it. Kushina would understand. He couldn't let her perform the ritual, couldn't let her spend the rest of eternity with her soul trapped inside the Dead Demon's belly. That would be too cruel.

For the first time that night, the Nine-tails' overwhelming strength came as a blessing. The toads were being overpowered. It was perfect. Kushina would have to intervene. She would not be able to perform the Dead Demon ritual while she held down the Nine-tails with her Chakra chains, and she would have no choice but to let him do it, to let him engage in the epitome of self-sacrifice. He knew Naruto would be given what he needed, that his only son would be raised well with the help of those he trusted.

Sealing the Fox would be easy. In hindsight, he should've brought the Third with him. The old man and Jiraiya were the only others who knew how to invoke the Dead Demon. The soul to be offered didn't have to be his own.

The very thought made him feel ashamed, and he crushed that little selfish voice of hindsight ruthlessly. The options were either him or Kushina, and it wasn't going to be Kushina.

"It's too strong." He explained to her. "I'll have to split its Chakra in two. There's only one way I know how."

Kushina stared at him blankly for a moment. And then, as she finally began to understand the full import of his words, she laughed. It was a helpless, miserable laughter. "The Dead Demon Consuming Seal." She said. Her voice was resigned. She knew that he knew that she could not invoke the Dead Demon in her current state, and he knew that she wanted to refuse. But there was no time for them to argue, no time to discuss or bargain for a better solution.

He would do it because he loved her. It was something he could imagine Jiraiya writing into one of his romance novels, this sacrifice for love. The only difference was that in a Jiraiya novel, the hero always survived, and his supposed sacrifice would serve as the catalyst for earning the love interest of his intended partner. The story would then be followed by smutty shenanigans as was typical of a Jiraiya novel. But he was not a hero in one of Jiraiya's novels. He would not survive, and neither would his own love interest.

Kushina would die regardless of what he did this night, and he would die with her. He was doing it for her, he told himself. She was the reason he was leaving his son an orphan. At least this way, her soul would be able to rest in peace. At least this way, she would be able to watch her son grow like he knew she wanted.

But there was something more. As his soul was being torn from his body, he found that he wasn't being honest to himself. No. He wasn't being honest at all. He had refused to acknowledge the truth, had tried to convince himself that his sacrifice was selflessly motivated and nothing more. He hadn't wanted it to be this way, hadn't wanted his reasoning to be so petty and selfish, but that was what it was. No matter what he'd wanted to believe, the fact remained that he was ultimately driven by a petty human selfishness.

He'd chosen death because life without her would have been meaningless anyway.


	9. 0) Sarutobi Hiruzen (1)

猿飛ヒルゼン

* * *

The putrid, suffocating air dissipated and the barrier that Minato had set up to keep people out finally fell.

Hiruzen felt a burden lift from his shoulders, and the tightness in his belly loosened. Minato had done it. They'd survived, and the naked relief he felt could be seen in the faces of those who had followed him.

"He did it." One man said, his voice laden with gratitude. "The Fourth, Namikaze Minato. He vanquished the Demon!"

"We won!" Another man cheered.

"No. We did not." One of the ANBU, wearing a porcelain-white tiger ANBU mask, said as they entered the clearing where they had seen the Nine-tails rear its head over the treetops. "Tonight is a night of loss. There is no victory to be had."

They saw her as they entered the clearing, a figure sitting prone in the center of a matrix of seals, her neck hanging down as she seemed to fixate on something in her lap. Nearby, a baby boy lay snugly in a basket of blankets. He was sound asleep.

"Kushina!" Hiruzen called as he approached her, hoping against hope that she was alive.

And, as if in answer to his prayer, she stirred. Her face was a ghastly visage. Her eyes had rolled up, leaving only a small sliver of her irises visible from under her open eyelids. Her face was unnaturally pale, and a small ring of shadows hung beneath her eyes.

A sound emitted from her throat, a short dry moan. "Uuh." She said, and she blindly held up the object in her hand. It was a storage scroll. "Tuh-"

Others began arriving at the clearing, and Hiruzen quickly held her still, gently willing her hands back down to her sides. "Enough, Kushina. Do not say another word. You need immediate treatment, let me-"

A loud, dry rasping groan tore out of the dying woman's throat as she violently fought off his restraining hand with unexpected strength. The sudden movement made Hiruzen jump, his old heart suddenly racing with an unwelcome fear.

"Kushina?"

The woman calmed and held the scroll up to him, urging him to take it.

"What is it?" Hiruzen asked as he slowly made to take the scroll.

Her lips began to move, and her voice dropped perilously low. "Body."

Hiruzen took the scroll and called to those that now surrounded him. "Are any of you versed in medical Jutsu?"

"Old man."

Hiruzen turned back to her worriedly. A couple Shinobi came to them, the medic-nin he had called for presumably. "Lord Third." One announced.

"Wait." Hiruzen held up a hand as he stared into the eyes of the Nine-tails' former vessel. Her green irises had returned to a proper position, and her voice seemed to have come back, if maybe a little weak. Hiruzen resisted the urge to force her into silent rest with an Illisuion. It was clear she had something urgent to tell him, and he decided that it would be better to let her speak.

"Jiji." Kushina repeated affectionately, her voice almost a whisper. She paused.

"Yes?"

"His body." She paused again, as if the mere act of speaking tired her, and Hiruzen knew, at that point, that there was no saving this woman. It saddened him greatly, and he knew he would not be alone. Jiraiya would be stricken with grief.

"It's here," Kushina continued disjointedly. "...his soul... the Dead Demon's mask."

"The Dead Demon's mask?" Hiruzen looked down at the scroll and reached a sudden understanding. "Minato… he used the Dead Demon to seal the Nine-tails didn't he?"

He looked to Kushina for an answer, but she was gone. Her body had fallen limp and her eyes had taken on a glassy look. Uzumaki Kushina, master of seals and last known surviving citizen from the Land of Whirlpool, was dead.

One of the medic-nin that had been on standby knelt and put out a diagnostic hand. "She's dead."

"I see." Hiruzen responded slowly and swallowed a lump that had risen in his throat. The evening had been beyond awful. Minato and Kushina and hundreds of villager's killed in a single night. The village itself had suffered immense structural damage. Too many lives had been cut down by the Demon's hatred, and they didn't even know what had caused its escape in the first place. He swallowed again, fighting back another lump in his throat, fighting off the grief that sought to overtake him.

"Lord Third." A Shinobi appeared at his side. "The child. What do we do about the child?"

The child. Minato's son. He had nearly forgotten. "Let me see him."

Another Shinobi, this one wearing an oxen ANBU mask, carried the newborn to the now de facto leader of the village.

' _Take care of my son_.'

Hiruzen pocketed the scroll that Kushina had handed him and reached to take baby Naruto into his arms. "I will nurse him for now." He looked around at the gathered Shinobi. More and more were coming, dozens upon dozens arriving on the scene where the Demon had last been seen, where they knew it had been vanquished. The village's defenders all beheld the girl who had once served as the Nine-tailed Demon's vessel. More than a few saw her and felt relief. They would not be living under the risk of a vessel again, always fearing that the Demon would break loose. Their night of disaster served to justify all their prejudices. A vessel was a danger to the village.

Such were the thoughts of a number of men and women from among the crowd, many of them never wanting to face the terror that they had faced that night ever again. The Lord Third held the tiny blonde infant in his arms and gazed out upon the crowd, unaware of the difficulties that baby Naruto would be facing from them in the future. The gathered people looked to him, their former leader, and waited for him to give an order or deliver some sort of speech.

"The Fourth has given his life to seal the Nine-tails into this boy."

A collective noise from a sizable portion of the crowd was emitted from the crowd followed by words of disapproval, both whispered and boldly shouted aloud. It was at this moment that Hiruzen knew that he had made a mistake, had doomed the boy in his arms to the same ugly fate that his mother had suffered in her own childhood. There was nothing for it now but to carry on.

"Silence!" He barked severely, and the chatter faded.

"We may have overcome the source of tonight's disaster, but our homes are now in shambles. What are you doing here? Gather the injured. We will need temporary shelters, both for them and for the many who have now lost their homes. We shall grieve later. There is much to be done and very little time. Do not think yourselves safe for even a moment. Word of this disaster will reach the other Shinobi states, and the Leaf is now in greater danger than it has ever been before."

There was a moment of silence as the Lord Third gathered himself and knelt next to the corpse of the Nine-tails' former vessel, and for an instant, he wasn't a leader or the figure of authority that he had been just moments before. For an instant, the Lord Third looked like nothing more than a frail old man who had had to endure the tragedy of his children's deaths, an old man who seemed to want nothing more than to let his old heart and body rest. As if woken from a collective trance, the crowd of Shinobi came to their senses and dispersed. Some headed back to check on their families, others left to help sift through the rubble that the rampage of the Nine-tailed Demon had left behind, to look for lives that could be salvaged.

Hiruzen turned back to Kushina's corpse, her baby still in his arms. Her body would need to be collected and prepared for burial.

Hiruzen adjusted his hold on the baby, thinking on the storage scroll that Kushina had handed him, the one that contained Minato's body, and wondered what he was to do with it.


	10. 0) Orochimaru (0)

**大蛇丸**

* * *

"What do you make of this?"

"Hmm." Orochimaru hummed in his soft, raspy voice. "It appears, sensei, that we have a corpse trapped inside an unbreakable storage seal."

"Why?" Hiruzen asked pointedly, the Hokage's hat that the Fourth had worn only the day before now sitting on his head. Orochimaru felt a pang of resentment at the way the old man was demanding information from him, demanding his help as if he owed it. He owed the old man nothing. Even with the Fourth dead, the old man had chosen to take on the Hokage's position instead of passing it on to his student who had coveted it for years. The monkey didn't even _want_ to be Hokage. ' _Unfit to lead_.' His mentor had said of him behind his back two years before, striking down the nomination that he would have had otherwise.

Orochimaru smiled pleasantly. "I'm afraid, sensei, that I do not have sufficient information in my hands to be able to come to any reasonable conclusion. Tell me more about this Dead Demon."

"I suppose.." The old man leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk. "The Dead Demon is a powerful spirit contracted by the Uzumaki."

"A contract? A summoning contract?"

"Precisely."

"Uzumaki you say?" Orochimaru tilted his head thoughtfully. "I assume the contract was brought over by one of the Uzumaki immigrants. Uzumaki Kushina herself, perhaps?"

"Indeed."

"I would further assume she had shared this contract with a number of close relations. Sensei. You are one of those few, are you not?"

"I am." The old man sighed. "Sharp as a blade, you are, sharper than I will ever be. I'm glad. You have heard how Minato met his end?"

"Only vague details. Ah. I see." Orochimaru's eyes lit up as he made the connection. "The late Lord Fourth gave his life to seal the Nine-tailed Demon into the body of an infant child. The Dead Demon! The cost of invoking it was death."

"Not exactly."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Am I wrong?"

"No, you are correct." The old man took the scroll up into his pock-marked left hand. "However, death would be merely a side-effect. The immortal soul. That is the cost for summoning the Dead Demon."

"The soul?" Orochimaru's interest in the Dead Demon contract wilted. It would be of no use to him. The lives of the bodies he would be possessing were trivial, to be tossed away at whim. His soul, however, was not so expendable. "Tell me, sensei. What is it you have summoned me for? I am a busy man."

"Orochimaru." The old man sighed condescendingly, and Orochimaru loathed him all the more. "Patience has never been one of your strongest suits."

"Is that so?" Orochimaru mused. "On the contrary, sensei, I can be _very_ patient."

"When you are willing, yes." Hiruzen frowned, knowing that he was losing the interest of his former student. "I want you to help me find the Dead Demon's mask. Kushina's last words to me alluded to such an object. I would pursue the task myself, but I will be very busy for the next several months. The village is in a precarious situation. The damage we've suffered has not been so fatal since the defection of Uchiha Madara. I have no time to indulge in personal matters. Consider this a direct mission assignment from your Kage."

"And why assign this task to me?" Orochimaru suggested resentfully. "Why not Jiraiya?"

"Orochimaru." Hiruzen chided sternly. "No matter how much you have grown and how much you have separated yourself from us, you are still the Genin I had taught, and you are still one of the most intelligent human beings that I know of. I chose you because I believe you to be best suited to the task. I chose you because I trust you. Think of it as you would one of your many research projects." The old man placed the scroll back onto his desk and picked up his pipe. "Please, I want to give you the opportunity to show me that I can rely on you. Can I rely on you, Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru's sarcastic smile that he had worn since he'd arrived had all but vanished as he glared at his old mentor. ""I will see what I can do. Leave it to me."

With that, the legendary Snake Sannin stalked off to whatever wiles he had been engaged in before he had been called to the Hokage's office.

 _What a waste of time_.

A hundred days later, the culprit to the mysterious disappearances that had been reported throughout the village was discovered. The kidnapper, the one who had plagued the Fire Country for over a decade, had been none other than Orochimaru. He had been tracked and discovered by a squad lead by the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen himself.

And so it was not as a hero of the Leaf but as a fugitive that he'd found the Dead Demon's mask. And he hadn't done it to help fulfill his old mentor's request either. No. He'd taken the mask for himself, researched its whereabouts and its usage, out of sheer spite. It was clear to him now what Uzumaki Kushina had intended that night. The key words had been _soul_ , _body_ and _Dead Demon's mask_. With those last few words, the last Uzumaki seal master had concisely laid out enough information for even a senile and demented old man to make the correct connections.

As long as he had the mask, Orochimaru gloated to himself, the old man would never find it. It was too bad he couldn't have taken the scroll containing Namikaze Minato's body before he'd left the village. To conduct an invasion in the body that the old man had trusted him to bring back to life would have been the ultimate insult, the ultimate form of entertainment.

Unfortunately, not everything tended to go his way. Soon after Orochimaru had defected, the old monkey, once more made leader of the Hidden Leaf village, had hidden Kushina's storage scroll containing her husband's body in some secret location. Try as he did the few times he'd returned to the village under guise, he had not been able to find it.

A pity.

He stored the mask away, taking what little victory he could, and did not dwell much on it for the next twelve years. He had no practical use for it after all. It was only on the day of the Chuunin Exam invasion twelve years later, after having had his arms severed by the very same Dead Demon that he had scorned, a Demon invoked by the very same old man he'd so hated, had he thought on the mask in his possession.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had sacrificed himself to damage Orochimaru's soul, and as the Sannin cradled his now useless arms in his lap from the darkness of one of his many hidden facilities, he found himself wishing he had killed the old man sooner and in a more efficient manner. His desire to gloat and to show off what he had achieved to his former mentor had cost him dearly.

The new body that he had taken over had not been able to recover him the usage of his arms. The damage he had taken had not been physical but spiritual, and its potency stoked his old anger. Even in death, the senile fool continued to hinder him.

But he still had the Dead Demon's mask. He would merely have to put it on, invoke the Demon, and cut open his own belly. Then, all the souls that were contained within the Dead Demon's stomach would be released. The body he was wearing at that point would die, and he would assume a new one. Orochimaru thought on the prospect and cackled. He would take back his arms, and the old fool will have sacrificed his life for absolutely nothing. The sudden laughter and the spasm of movement associated with it caused a sharp pain to shoot up the snake-man's deadened arms, and Orochimaru's laughter melted into a grimace.

The release of both his mentor's soul and that of the Fourth would be an unfortunate byproduct of the restoration of his most precious limbs; a Shinobi was only a mere shadow of what he could be without his hands with which to weave seals. Oh he would have his hands back, there was no doubt. On the other hand, there was no guarantee that the soul of Namikaze Minato would return to its body, preserved or not. As for Sarutobi Hiruzen, the old man was undoubtedly dead. His body had long decayed past the point of resuscitation.

Despite the pain in his useless arms and the cold sweat that it caused him, Orochimaru began to exult. He would regain use of his arms and he would smash the village before it could recover from his recent attack. He couldn't help but raise his head to the ceiling and laugh at the thought. "I win!" He shouted to a ghost which could not hear or see him, his voice echoing loudly inside the dark cavern of his underground lab. "You're _dead_ , old man, and the village you so treasured will fall! I win!"

Without wasting anytime, Orochimaru retrieved the Mask of the Dead Demon. Thus, due to a combination of chance and the machinations of his deceased wife, Namikaze Minato would be given another lease to life twelve years after he'd thrown it away, a sacrifice he willingly made both for his village and for himself. He would crawl out from a small, hidden opening located behind a metal statue, moving in a state of delirium and hope. In the darkness of predawn, an hour before the light of the Sun would begin to cast away the blanket of night that lay covered over the surrounding temple, a dead man came to life.


	11. 1) Namikaze Minato (3)

波風ミナト

* * *

He reached out, grasping for any trace of his Flash Markers and found none.

"That's not possible." He muttered in the dim darkness. His voice echoed, giving him the general dimensions of the room. There wasn't any visible source of light, but there was a low visibility which allowed him to make out the forms of many statues, symbols of buddhism he recognized. It was in this way that he managed to guess where he was. While it was true that many temples existed on the continent, very few enjoyed such a calibre of splendor.

He was in a temple, and, being born a citizen of the Land of Fire, the first temple that came to his mind was naturally the Temple of Fire. The first cracks began to form on the feeling of hope that he was holding. If Kushina had put his body in a scroll, odds were she would have kept him by her side or at least somewhere close. While the Temple of Fire was safe, there were many ways he could envision himself being kept safe without having to resort to having his body be placed in such a remote, isolated place.

Right?

The crack in his hope widened, splintering down along the seams. There was no guarantee that she was alive. In fact, there was no guarantee that he wasn't in another era altogether. It was entirely possible that everyone he knew had already died, that the times were no longer what they were when he'd been alive.

Of course she was dead. No one had ever survived the extraction of a Tailed Beast, and to expect Kushina to have survived the extraction of the most powerful of all the Tailed Beasts was like expecting the Sun to rise in the west. It was simply something that never happened. Even Uzumaki Mito, the first vessel of the Nine-tails and wife of the First Hokage, had met her end when the Nine-tails had been taken out of her body, when Kushina had been made the Demons' new vessel.

But Uzumaki Mito had been old. Kushina had been young, an Uzumaki whose blood ran strong in her veins. If anyone had had a chance of surviving an extraction, Kushina would have been the most likely candidate.

The surrounding buddha-esque statues stood solemnly, looking down with kind compassion, with pity, and Minato collapsed to his knees. He was deluding himself and he knew it. He'd known the moment he'd laid hands on her. The breaking of the seal had torn her Chakra coils beyond repair. She had been so pale, so cold. He almost hadn't been able to look her straight in the eyes, hadn't been able to let himself see how frail the vibrant woman had become. Naruto had been a difficult baby to birth, and the extraction of the Nine tails had been the nail, hammer and coffin to that difficult procedure.

Uzumaki Kushina was almost certainly dead.

His will lost, Minato let himself fall forward. The twelve years he had spent preserved inside a scroll had provided him no true rest, and the toll of having been awake for nearly forty hours finally caught up to him. He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

* * *

The sound of the forest, the rustling and swaying of the trees in the wind, whispered soothingly into his ears. It was the sound of home, a place of rest. There was a smell of incense, mingled with the pristine smell of the morning, the scent of a clean forest air. There was also the smell of wood, of polished surfaces.

It was in this gentle peace that he woke. Life surged through his veins, and his heartbeat was as consistent as it was ever going to be.

 _Time._

He opened his eyes and sat up. It was dark. A blanket slid away and collected at the foot of the small bed where he'd been placed. The familiar, loose touch of the Hokage's cloak that he had been wearing was gone. Someone had found him, washed him, and dressed him in clean clothing. Letting his bare foot fall onto the floor, he instinctively felt for a flash marker to transport himself home, and, as had happened earlier, he found none.

Where was he? _When_ was he? Had all his markers been erased by the passage of time?

He would worry about that later. For now, there was the problem of the utter lack of visibility.

Minato opened his palm upward, and a blue spherical ball of Chakra flickered into life.

He looked around, and by the glow of his Rasengan, he saw a pair of dark eyes looking straight at him from just within the light's periphery.

Stumbling backwards with a yelp, he fell back into the bed. His Rasengan vanished and the darkness returned.

A voice spoke out of the darkness. "My apologies." It said. The voice was deep, soothing, and Minato relaxed. "I will be with you shortly." The voice spoke again before he could ask it any questions. And then there was a silence, and Minato found himself to be distinctly alone. A clone? A projection?

He made another Rasengan, expanding it as large as he dared. He didn't want to hit or break anything. The room was tiny and spartan, almost a prison. The ceiling was relatively low, and the ball of concentrated Chakra that he was holding above his head had drilled a smooth dome on its surface.

Woops.

He quickly extinguished his light. At the same time, a door was opened and another light flooded in.

A tall, bald man walked in. His forehead was wide and his eyes were the eyes that Minato had seen from the darkness. "I see you have awakened." The man's voice was pleasant.

Minato posed the first question that was on his mind. "What year is it? What era?"

The man smiled, his serious expression straining itself into humor. "Do you not recognize me, Lord Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village?"

Minato examined the man carefully for a moment. The features were indeed familiar, a serious, heavy-cast face and a strong, trained body. All that had changed was the man's age. He knew who this was. "You're-" He hesitated. "You're Chiriku of the Twelve Guardians and head of the Temple of Fire."

The man smiled. "I've aged haven't I?"

"By how much?" Minato plied.

"By about thirteen years since you last saw me, Namikaze Minato."

They considered each other silently for a short moment.

"I'm alive." Minato stated, the question implicit in his tone.

"Very much so. It seemed you were never dead. Your soul had been taken by the Dead Demon, but your body was still healthy as if nothing had happened to it. You were lucky. If your wife had been late to preserve your body by even a minute, the cells in your brain and your heart would have asphyxiated and died, and at that point, there would have been no bringing you back to life."

"The Dead Demon released my soul." Minato mused. All that he had just been told he had already guessed when he'd first seen the special storage scroll from which he'd been released, the one that had been drawn up by Kushina. "Kushina. My wife. Is she…?" He gulped, afraid to ask, to have his conclusions verified.

"Uzumaki Kushina died shortly after she made her attempt to save you."

Minato felt a tingling numbness paralyze his chest. He felt cynical. He needed proof, something to give him plausible deniability. "How do you know?"

Chiriku saw the stubborn, hungry look in the formerly-dead man's face and sighed. "The Lord Third came here about twelve years ago. He came and entrusted me with everything." Chiriku laughed humorlessly. "I'd thought it a fool's hope. Both he and your wife, the ones who had attempted to cheat death. I pitied them. Yet here you are." Chiriku shook his head as if in self rebuke. "I promised to keep your body safe from the outside world and that is what I have done. Now that you are alive, you are no longer my burden. I have no obligation to keep you and you may leave freely."

Minato nodded. He could feel tears making their way out his eyes and down his cheeks. "I see."

"All who live die." Chiriku said, noting his ward's grief. "I will not tell you to not mourn. Death is invariably sad. I do ask, however, that you think on those who are alive now."

"I didn't ask to be brought back to life." Minato said bitterly.

"I did not say that you did. I was speaking of your son."

"Naruto." Minato said, his voice suddenly taking up life of its own. "How is he?"

"Alive and well, last I heard." Chiriku answered. "Though I do not hear much about what goes on outside these walls."

"Is he- is he happy? Is he living well? Who takes care of him?"

Chiriku smiled and shook his head. "I do not know. You'll have to see for yourself."

The burst of interest waned, and Minato sunk back into apathy. "If he's happy, if he's doing well without his parents, then there's no reason for me to go back and complicate things. I don't want to cause problems, to force him to adapt to a stranger trying to force himself into his life."

"You do not wish to see him?"

"He's done without me for thirteen years. He doesn't need me. Who is the Hokage now?"

Chiriku did not answer the question, and an uncomfortable silence lulled into the conversation. Minato waited, knowing that the monk felt disapproval at his dismissive words.

"Would you throw away this life that so few would have had the chance to be given once more?"

"That is for me to decide." Minato replied quietly.

Chiriku stepped forward, the light of his lamp invading the room. "Would you spit on the grave of your wife? Would you desecrate the final wish of Uzumaki Kushina by trampling on the fruits of her last moments? Do you not understand the sacrifices made for you?"

"I did not ask for any of it." Minato said firmly and then paused in thought.

"It sounds as if you wish to put an end to this life you've been given."

"No." Minato denied. "You are right. Even if I desire to do so, I cannot dishonor this gift nor can I ignore Kushina's dying wish."

"Then," Chiriku's aggressiveness fell back into normalcy. "What will you do now?"

Minato fell silent for a long time, and Chiriku, head monk of the Temple of Fire, waited patiently for the man to sort out his thoughts. After a long silence, Minato finally spoke, and when he did, his voice and demeanor had become subdued. "The monks of the Temple of Fire live to atone for their sins and to find enlightenment. We have all been Shinobi in some period in our lives. We have killed, and we have wrought death and grief to many whether or not they deserved it. As I am now, the world believes me dead, correct?"

"That is correct." Chiriku confirmed.

"Then let it stay so. I have done my part, as a human being, as a Shinobi, as a husband, as a soldier to my village, and as the Fourth Hokage to the Hidden Leaf. I have already lived my life to its conclusion." Minato paused as he felt the weight of his resolution settle on his shoulders. "I am no longer bound by worldly desires. Let me remain here to follow the path of atonement and, in the process, find my own enlightenment. Let me become a monk of the Temple."

Chiriku looked Minato over critically. "Is that what you truly desire?"

"It is."

"Then come. If it is your wish, you shall be baptized one of us."

Minato bowed his head as Chiriku left the room and beckoned for him to follow. "Thank you, Head Monk Chiriku."

"No need for thanks, Namikaze Minato. The choice is yours to make. The Temple of Fire accepts all in the line of Shinobi who seek the path that is provided here. It has done so ever since its founding."

Minato smiled. "I must still thank you. It is you who have kept me safe these thirteen years, and it is you who have given me your hospitality and patience so far."

"Hm." Chiriku made an amused noise and yawned. "Formalities. Come. Let us not waste time. You will be shaved, and a new name will be selected for you. We will cleanse you of your past. What you have done, the sins you have committed and the life you have lived shall be no more."

They left the room into the open night air where the stars shone brilliantly alongside a waning moon. Minato could now see that the room had been but a singular hut, separated from the main temple altogether. He would later learn that it served as a sort of penitentiary for those who commit common infractions in their daily life at the Temple.

"What happened to my cloak?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I have it in the main hallway." The monk answered. "If you are to follow the life of a monk, however, all the worldly possessions that you brought with you and all material traces of your past life must be disposed of. If you do not have a change of heart between now and the next month, we will have it burned. Will that be all?"

"Yes." Minato said softly.

"Then come."

And he did.


	12. 1) Jiraiya (0)

自来也

* * *

A tall, well-built man in his late forties entered the establishment to a chorus of friendly greetings.

"Welcome!" "Please come in!" "Where would you like to be seated today, sir?"

"Why anywhere that can fit me of course." The man smiled his most winning smile and winked, eliciting several giggles.

"You pervert!" A voice accused lewdly. The man laughed bawdily in response.

"Right this way, sir." one of the women who had welcomed him began to lead him further into the building.

"Of course, of course." The man looked around unabashedly at the forms of the many employees, and decided he liked all of them. "I heard Arato Hisako worked in this establishment. I also heard that she is very charming."

"Ah." The matron, a middle-aged woman of about the man's age stopped in front of a comfortable-looking booth. "Please be seated sir, I will see if she's available."

"Thank you." The man nodded and produced a coin. "Would you also pass a message to her?"

"I can do that." The woman took the coin. It disappeared promptly into her sleeves. "What is it you would like me to tell her?"

"Just tell her that the one requesting her goes by the name Jiraiya."

"Ah." The woman narrowed her eyes in recognition of the name. "You."

"Me." The man agreed. The woman walked off, and was quickly replaced by two other women who had made their way to the table where the man sat.

"Would you like something to drink, sir?" One of the women, a pink-haired lady in a blue flowered kimono, asked in an ingratiating tone.

"Your finest wine would do. Why don't you sit with me while the pretty little miss next to you, what's your name?"

The other woman, practically a girl, blushed and stammered. "N-nakiri. Nakiri Erina."

"Oh? What a pretty name." The man examined the girl from head to toe causing her blush to deepen. "Why don't you go get us some wine?"

"Yes sir!" The girl bowed and hurried off to retrieve refreshments.

The man, Jiraiya, laughed and turned to the pink-haired woman who had stayed to accompany him. "A newbie isn't she?"

The woman smiled. "It's only her second day."

"Second day huh? I usually enjoy more experienced woman, such as yourself, but the new ones can be cute in their own way, wouldn't you say?"

For a minute fraction of a second, Jiraiya noticed the pink-haired woman's look transform into one of faint disapproval. The moment passed quickly and the woman covered her reaction professionally and quickly with a pasted smile. "Indeed. Many of our customers seem to like when they are serviced by newcomers. My aren't you rude. You haven't even asked me my name."

Jiraiya smiled as the woman took one of his arms and sidled close to him. "And why would I request information I already know, Arato Hisako-chan?"

"So you knew."

"What, you think I would forget the face of someone of such rare, unparalleled beauty? Looking at you is like looking at a field of roses untainted by the touch of humanity."

"Oh I am plenty tainted." The woman, Hisako, whispered into Jiraiya's ear. "In fact, I can show you just how tainted I can be, if you'd like."

"Not tonight, Hisako-chan. Tonight is for wine and other things."

Hisako sat back unhappily. "The fee will be the same."

"Of course." Jiraiya declared just as the girl who had gone to retrieve the wine came back alongside the first woman who had welcomed him and found him a seat.

"Why don't the two of you join us. Erina-chan and- what's you're name?"

"Yoshino Yuki." The older woman gave a brief bow and then joined the table. "I was going to tell you that I couldn't find Arato Hisako, but it seems you've found her yourself."

"Oh she found _me_. Come, Yuki-chan!" Jiraiya slapped a bill onto the table. "Let us drink! Nakiri-chan. Sit! I'll pour the wine."

The girl nodded demurely, set down the tray she had been holding, and sat next to the coworker she had approached the table with. The air was warm and the seats were wide and spaced, but Hisako scooted closer to Jiraiya nonetheless, giving the Nakiri girl enough room to lay down.

Jiraiya began to talk as he poured the wine with slow leisure. "Hisako-chan here tells me that she thinks herself to be tainted." He said as if the mere suggestion were a joke. He handed the first cup to the youngest at the table. Nakiri Erina took the cup hesitantly and blushed.

Hanging on Jiraiya's left arm, Hisako giggled and sitting to Jiraiya's other side, the older woman, Yoshino Yuki, grasped at his right arm. "Aren't we all?"

Jiraiya raised his head to the ceiling and laughed long and loud, the sake he'd been pouring temporarily forgotten. When his laughter calmed, the man shook his head and smiled knowingly. "If you're tainted, then what would that make me? A living infestation?"

"There are some who would say so." Hisako suggested.

Jiraiya shook his head again, and picked up the remaining three empty sake cups, one of each between his thumb, forefinger, middle finger and ring finger. He swirled the cups around in a circular motion, and, as if by magic, the cups slowly filled up with sake despite the sake jar remaining untouched on the table. "Then they have not truly lived." He said and handed the now full cups to each of his female companions. The Nakiri girl took her cup and looked it up down left and right with curiosity and wonder, trying to figure out how the man had done what he did.

"I pity them. Cheers!" Jiraiya held his cup of sake up into the air and then downed it in a single gulp. "Ah that's good! I'm in a talking mood tonight. Nakiri Erina!"

"Yes!"

"Tell me about your life. How did you come to work here?" he took her empty cup and handed it back to her full, a trick she was beginning to have doubts about seeing. Jiraiya laughed heartily at her almost childish disbelief. "Drink up!"

And so, several hours, four thousand ryo, and many jars of wine later, Jiraiya would finally exhaust his wallet. By that time, the older Yoshino Yuki had already passed out with her head resting on the table. The younger Nakiri Erina, a weak drinker by nature, had laid herself down on the wide space she'd been given at the table and had fallen asleep, gentle snores emitted unlady-like from her open mouth.

Jiraiya set down his last cup of sake. "Hisako-chan." He said pleasantly. "It's about time."

"So it is." The pinkette produced a small envelope and inserted it into the V-neck opening of Jiraiya's robe.

"The next time I come here, your name will be Shimizu Megumi." Jiraiya said under his breath.

"Understood." The woman whispered. "Good night, Jiraiya." She kissed his cheek and scooted away from the table to find people to help her carry her two unconscious coworkers into one of the safe rooms.

Jiraiya, for his part, stretched and stood. It was time to return to the hotel. Naruto had probably already fallen asleep.

"What a great night this has been!" Jiraiya said aloud as he exited the establishment premises. "Can't wait to come back." He giggled pervertedly. "That Erina was especially cute."

Naruto was indeed asleep when he returned to the hotel room. Lighting a small lamp, Jiraiya drew the envelope that had been placed in his robes, sat himself down at a desk and began to sift through the contents of the latest reports from this region of his spy network.

Orochimaru had hidden himself away, and it seemed there were none of the usual signs, at least in this quadrant of the country. He flipped to the next report. A letter from Chiriku, head monk of the Temple of Fire. _The seal has broken._ Was all it said.

Jiraiya scratched his head and set the letter aside. The next report worried him greatly. It seemed the Hidden Earth Village was starting talks about invading the Hidden Leaf, greatest of the Five Nations.

An inconvenience and very unfortunate. So soon after the assault that Orochimaru had coordinated with the Hidden Sand too. All this on top of the Akatsuki now openly collecting the nine tailed beasts from their various vessels. He'd barely been in time to stop Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame from kidnapping Naruto to gods knew where. It was just one bad thing after another.

Jiraiya stroked his chin. Of course, Orochimaru's assault on the Hidden Leaf and the subsequent weakening of the village's defenses was precisely the reason its political rivals were considering an invasion. Smash them while they were still weak and recuperating from both the attack and the death of their Hokage. It wasn't a completely unsound scheme. It was also likely the Hidden Earth still bore a grudge against the Leaf from the Third Shinobi War, a war that had finally ended when Namikaze Minato, not yet leader of the village at the time, had massacred a thousand Hidden Leaf Shinobi throughout various battlefields and fronts in a single day.

The student who he had raised and given everything he knew, the man who had been one of the few who he'd been willing to share the Toad contract with. His protege, a man whose soul now resided in the belly of one Dead Demon spirit.

Jiraiya set down his reports and turned to examine the boy that was sleeping on the futon mat behind him. He'd been thinking of his former student quite often in recent days, and it was most likely due to the fact that he now had the man's son under his wing. The boy bore a marked resemblance to his father. Their hair were similar as were the general structure of their faces. Naruto's eyes were also the the same sky blue color, and they shared the same physique.

Naruto looked strikingly similar to Minato when Minato had been a kid.

The differences, on the other hand, were minor. Naruto's eyes were large and wide like his mother's. Minato's eyes, on the other hand, had been sharper, more focused looking. There were also the whisker-like markings on the boy's cheeks, markings that served as a permanent reminder of the Nine-tailed Demon contained within.

Wait.

Jiraiya nearly stumbled backwards on his chair as he clambered to his feet.

Wait-wait-wait.

Wait.

Wait!

Now standing on his feet, he reached to the letter he had set aside, the one that had been sent to him from the Temple of Fire where the monks lived and where the Third had put the scroll containing Minato's body.

 _The seal has broken_.

Jiraiya stared at the sentence for an entire minute as if in a spell. The seal. Broken? How?! As he thought, he began to feel a euphoria of hope and excitement. Had it happened? Had the Dead Demon's mask been found?

Jiraiya considered that possibility and his spirits fell. He'd already gone to the temple in Whirlpool where Kushina had immigrated from and where the Dead Demon's mask should've been located. It hadn't been there, and the temple had been destroyed. What had once been a temple had instead been turned to splinters of wood, dust and mud. Either the temple had been destroyed along with the rest of the Hidden Whirlpool during the incident thirty years before, mask and everything inside, OR someone had explicitly taken the mask and destroyed the temple.

That the temple had been destroyed in the incident was more likely. Even more likely was that the seal on the scroll containing Minato's preserved body had finally been broken either by decay or by someone who had worked out a way to crack the seal's complex coding.

Minato would finally be buried, he thought morbidly and sighed. So much for Kushina's last wish.

With old man Sarutobi dead, Jiraiya was the last living person who had been close to the deceased Namikaze Minato, practically the man's father in fact.

And now he would have to revisit the grief from nearly thirteen years before. Of course, he would visit the temple and collect Minato's body. His greatest protege, his student, would finally receive the proper burial that he should have gotten over a decade ago.

Finding Tsunade could wait. Minato's body, on the other hand, would fall further into decay the longer he waited. He would just have to take Naruto along. The kid deserved to be there for his father's funeral, even if he wouldn't be knowing that Namikaze Minato, Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf and Jiraiya's former student, was his father.

Jiraiya looked back down at the letter. Of course, there was still the possibility, however slight it may be, that Minato had come back to life. Very unlikely, an impossible hope almost. But it was still a very real possibility.

The Sage of Toads held the letter up in irritation.

 _Why couldn't Chiriku have been more specific?!_


	13. 1) Jiraiya (1)

自来也

* * *

"Rise and shine, kid!"

A groan emitted from within the small bundle of blankets, and Jiraiya decided to try a different tactic.

"I was going to teach you a really powerful new jutsu today, but I guess since you're too bedridden-"  
"AH! REALLY?!" The blanket bundle exploded and a small blonde boy of about twelve leapt out of its depths wearing a set of loose-fitting starry-blue pajamas.

"Hmm." Jiraiya put his hands on his chin with interest as he observed the boy's reactions.

"You weren't just saying that to get me to get up were you?" The boy accused.

Jiraiya chuckled. "I was."

The boy slumped back down onto the mattress and rolled onto his back, pulling up the covers in one smooth motion. "Meh, I'm going back to sleep then."

"You-!"

The boy ducked his head back under the covers and began making loud snoring noises.

"I'll have you know, you impudent little brat, that I, the great Sage of Toads Jiraiya, am a man of my words. Which means-"

"Which means you're going to teach me?!" The boy shouted excitedly, the blankets flying into the ceiling as he once again jumped to his feet.

"Only if you do as I say and start treating me with proper respect."

"Pfft." The boy raspberried. "That's not what you said earlier, you lying old fogey."

"Old-!" Jiraiya scoffed. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah. You're the old man who said that you'd teach me a really awesome new jutsu if I got up."

"I said no such thing!"

"Uh-huh you did!"

"You weren't even listening to me, I said-"

The boy shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears. "BLEHBLEHBLAHBLAHBLAHICAN'THEARYOUBLAHBLAHBLAH!"

After nearly half a minute of ruckus, the boy popped one eye open to peep up at the man who was looking down at him patiently.

"Are you done?"

"Hmph!" The boy crossed his arms, turned his head and looked away. "You left me here at this hotel all day yesterday just so you could, you could go out and mess around! All day! Who does that?!"

"I had important business."

"Yeah right! _Important business'_ pfff! I saw you go into that… that place where.. where-!" The boy stopped, his cheeks going red as if he were recalling some embarrassing memory.

"Oh I see. You were the one who was following me last night."

"Aha! I knew it!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger. "You were neglecting me!"

Jiraiya shrugged and grinned. "Come on kid, let's get some breakfast, we're heading out."

"Don't change the subject!"

"There's been a change of plans." Jiraiya said reasonably. "We'll have to put off finding Tsunade and head further north to the Temple of Fire. I'll teach you the new jutsu along the way if you can get dressed and get ready in the next 10 minutes."

The boy crossed his arms and pouted.

"I'll be outside after I check out of this hotel. Remember, 10 minutes. It's a once in a lifetime offer. The technique I'll be teaching you is a high-level jutsu developed by the Fourth Hokage himself."

"Really?!" The boy's attitude spun another one-eighty degrees, and Jiraiya wondered briefly whether or not the kid was bipolar.

"Yup. Come down when you're done."

The kid stared at the mane of white hair hanging down the receding back of his newest mentor and waggled his tongue, but when the man closed the door, the boy immediately began putting things away and tidying up. He managed to finish his task in record speed with the help of several clones which he produced and then dispelled after his job was done.

By the time he'd ran down to the lobby, Jiraiya was still turning the room keys in to the receptionist.

"To put it bluntly, _Mr._ Jiraiya, I don't care who you are." The woman was saying. "I will not have you taking me for one of those common whores to be used and thrown away at your leisure."

Jiraiya ran his hands through his copious white hair and laughed. "Not at all, Chihiro-chan! Not at all!"

"Then stop flirting with me every time you come to this hotel. It's creepy."

"Oh pity unto me!" Jiraiya placed the back of his wrists on his forehead in a posture of lament. "How can she expect me to resist the allure of such a wonderful-"

"Jiraiya." The receptionist interrupted. "Your kid's already here."

Jiraiya turned in surprise as if just noticing the presence of his charge. "Oh Naruto! That was fast! Are you sure you didn't forget anything?"

"No." The boy, Naruto, replied. "I checked ten times."

"Ten times?" Jiraiya guessed. "So nine clones huh?"

Naruto nodded.

"What a convenient number." Jiraiya mused. "And here I thought I'd have just as many minutes to talk with Chihiro over here." He gestured toward the mousy-haired,young receptionist who was pointedly ignoring him.

At this Naruto, took an aggressive stance and pointed. "You just wanted time to mess around with that nee-chan. You… you _pervy sage_!"

"Don't call me that. I am your mentor, call me Jiraiya-sama or I won't teach-"

" _Pervy Sage! Pervy Sage! Pervy Sage! Pervy Sage! Pervy Sage! PERVY SAGE!_ "

"..." Jiraiya looked into the distance as he contemplated the fact that he was probably doomed to being called pervy sage by Minato's son for the rest of their master-student relationship. "At least it rolls off the tongue… _ero sennin.._ "

"What was that, pervy sage?" Naruto tilted his head.

Jiraiya sighed. "Let's go. We've got a long walk ahead of us."

"I hope you enjoyed your visit! Please come again!" The receptionist called after them out of habit.

Jiraiya turned to give the woman a sideways grin and a wink, and she instantly regretted having said anything at all, even if it was standard protocol.

"So what's this jutsu you're going to teach me?" Naruto asked as they left the town into the surrounding forest

"I'll show you after breakfast. Let's catch some things. That Kakashi did teach you how to survive in the wilderness right?"

"Hah! You mean living by myself out in the wild? That's easy!" Naruto proudly jerked a self-assured thumb at himself. "I taught myself to do that when I was five!"

"Is that so? Interesting. The Fourth Hokage had that down when he was four, when I had him train in the Forest of Death for a month." Except unlike Naruto, Minato had had plenty of help from Jiraiya who had been his mentor at the time. Then again, Naruto probably hadn't trained himself to survive the Forest of Death, where predators of every kind lurked in sizable numbers. The Forest of Death was one of the most dangerous natural habitats on the continent.

"Really?" Naruto looked down at his hands. "Wow." He finally said after a moment of silent contemplation. "The Fourth is amazing."

Jiraiya looked down at the boy walking alongside him with concern as he pondered the circumstances that would have led to a five year old learning to keep himself alive in a non-civilized setting.

"Was it part of a training exercise?" He ventured.

"Was what part of a training exercise?"

"Learning to survive in the wilderness, foraging your own food, building your own shelter. You did all that right?"

"I did." Naruto looked down at his feet as if ashamed to further discuss the matter. "I was just hungry and couldn't afford anything." He muttered.

"Couldn't afford to _eat_?"

"Yeah." The boy confirmed dejectedly as he seemed to drudge up some unpleasant memories.

Jiraiya examined the boy's somber countenance for several moments and decided to change the topic. He would save the guilt-trip for after Minato's burial.

"So! Let me tell you where we're going, then I'll tell you about the jutsu that the Fourth invented. I warn you, it's an extremely difficult A-rank jutsu, and only three people in Shinobi history have been known to be able to use it."

"You're one of them?" Naruto asked curiously, his memories of the past momentarily forgotten. "Who's the third?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "I'll leave that a secret for you to discover later on your own. I'm sure the person would prefer I keep it a secret and not ruin the surprise anyway."

"Surprise? Who is it? Tell me, tell me!"

"We're going to head straight for the Temple of Fire."

"You're changing the subject again!"

"There's a certain scroll that is extremely important."

"Pervy old man sage!"

"You see," Jiraiya continued as if Naruto hadn't said anything. "The Fourth's funeral twelve years ago was really a sham. He has, in fact, actually been in the Temple of Fire this entire time."

"Yeah, whatever. You're just..." Naruto trailed off and his mouth fell open agape as he absorbed the words that had been spoken to him. " _WHAT?!_ "


	14. 1) Kosa (0)

光佐

* * *

"The country has not changed much since your absence." Chiriku said conversationally as they walked.

"I see." Minato replied distractedly as he followed behind the head monk. A brief period of silence ensued as the monk lead his charge slowly across the temple grounds. Minato could see two other monks in the courtyard. The two, both men dressed in unassuming robes, were raking leaves when they looked up to greet the head monk with a nod.

Chiriku nodded back and continued on his way without looking back, but the monks' stares fell onto the one who followed their temple leader.

"I expected you to have more questions." Chiriku said, and Minato hurried after him just as the monks began to whisper to one another.

"I thought matters of the outside world no longer mattered to the monks who live in these walls."

Chiriku did not respond, and they began moving up a flight of stairs toward a set of large, metal gates. The morning sun had risen halfheartedly over the treetops, visibly shining through a small gap in the otherwise grey, cloud-filled sky.

"Be that is it may, you are not yet a monk of the temple." The head monk finally answered. "There are some matters I feel you would want to know of."

"Matters I would want to know of?" Minato thought on possible subject matters that he would find interest in and found very little. Naruto was alive, and Kushina was dead. What else could he possibly want to know?

Chiriku reached the metal gates and turned to stare down the flight of stairs at the one who followed him. "Upon further consideration, I feel it would be better that you defer your decision for six more days."

Minato looked up from where he'd stopped walking. Six days? For what?

As if reading his mind, Chiriku spoke again. "I am expecting Lord Jiraiya to arrive in six day's time at the very latest, and I would like for you to have a chance to speak to him, as Namikaze Minato rather than as a newly christened monk of the Fire Temple."

Minato's mind elicited an old image, a tall man with a mane of abundant white hair and a radiant smile. Minato felt a sudden desire to see his mentor, to see how much Jiraiya had changed over the decade and what Jiraiya would think about his decision.

"When did you tell him?" Minato asked.

"I sent a note soon after I first found you as I had been asked." Chiriku explained. "You were unconscious."

"I see." Minato said, satisfied with the reply. He was sure that if Chiriku had known that he would decide to remove himself from the world and live the rest of his life in monkhood, Chiriku would not have sent any notice without first consulting him. But the message was already sent, there was nothing to be done. That Jiraiya was the recipient to the message wasn't unexpected either. Jiraiya was a gatherer of information - a spy of the Hidden Leaf. It made sense to have any messages be sent to one of the branches of Jiraiya's network. Very few informants, however, knew the identity of the one who headed one of the Leaf's largest spy operations, and Minato was suddenly curious as to how the monk standing above him could have known. Or perhaps that was concluding too much. Namikaze Minato's close relation with the Sage of Toads was no secret, and it was reasonable to assume Jiraiya to be an intended recipient of the message involving his student's new lease on life.

Minato closed his eyes and silenced the frivolous theories and possibilities that his mind couldn't help but automatically formulate. "It would have been better if you hadn't sent that note."

"Perhaps." Chiriku said, neither conferring agreement nor disagreement. "Will you choose to wait?"

Minato considered and then nodded. "Whether I wait six or a hundred days, the result will be the same. I would like to be inducted as soon as possible. I do not wish to have second thoughts."

"I see." Chiriku's smiled kindly. "Perhaps you'd like more time to consider. You haven't eaten in two days. Let us postpone for now and find you some nourishment. I wouldn't want to be inhospitable, as your host."

"Not at all. You have been very gracious." Minato said as he suddenly felt the emptiness of his stomach. "I supposed a meal wouldn't hurt."  
Chiriku nodded. "Let us return then."

"So," Minato said conversationally as they descended the steps. "Why six days?

"It is the time during which I believe Jiraiya will be arriving." Chiriku replied. "Six days is an overshot estimate. It is likely Jiraiya will be here much sooner. He should be nearing the upper north-western quadrant of his network at this time. If he was, say, in the west quadrant, I would have asked for three weeks rather than six days."

"You know of his network." Minato said with a tone of surprise. "You know of his route too. How?"

Chiriku smiled to himself good-humoredly. "How indeed. I hope you don't mind a meatless diet."

"Not at all." Minato answered. The head monk had no prerogative to reveal anything, and Minato allowed the subject to slide. "I'm grateful for whatever you can provide me."

Chiriku nodded approvingly. With that, he started walking back down the stairs he had climbed, and the large metal doors at the top remained shut.

"Good morning." Minato said to the two monks who had been staring up at them from the courtyard. The monks quickly looked away and resumed their work.

"Sōhei! Choro!" Chiriku greeted aloud.

The two men held their rakes to the side and bowed. Their height and build were similar, and with their heads shaved of hair, the two looked almost as twins if not for the ear missing from the one with the broader eyes.

"This is a guest of the temple." Chiriku gestured to Minato. "It would be discourteous to treat him otherwise."

"Of course." One of the men, the one with the missing ear, bowed in Minato's direction and the other followed suit. "My apologies. I am Choro, former chuunin of the Hidden Leaf."

The other monk did the same, extending a hand forward to be shook instead of bowing. "I am Sōhei. A very good morning to you."

Minato nodded and shook the offered hand. The man's grip was strong, and the palms of his hands were rough, almost bark-like in texture. "A pleasure to meet you." Minato said, intentionally not giving his name. Not all the monks of the Temple were necessarily trustworthy, and some have been known to leave the Temple life. Minato would rather remain anonymous. There was no reason for him to return to the world of the living.

Yet despite his reservations, both Choro and Sōhei seemed unable to take their eyes off his face. Sōhei's grip on Minato's hand tightened uncomfortably as he glared deep into Minato's eyes.

"Is this a joke?" Sōhei asked, his voice laced with barely contained anger.

"A joke?" Minato narrowed his eyes and made a futile attempt to take back his hand. "I'm not sure-"

"What do you mean to do coming to our temple under this- this guise?!" The man turned to address Chiriku, his anger now open and unrestricted. "Who is this imposter, Chiriku?"

Minato felt the grip of the handshake becoming uncomfortable. Before further harm could be done, Chiriku stepped forward. He took hold of Sōhei's wrist, and his voice became grave. "Sōhei. As I have said before, this is a guest. You will afford him the courtesy of such.

The monk did not move for a moment, his glare fixed intently on examining the face of the one who stood before him. And then, as if a valve had been released, he did as he was bid. Sōhei unclenched his hand and let it fall to his side. "I apologize." He said in a flat tone. "It's just… never mind. I have committed grave offense to our guest. I hope you can forgive me."

"That is alright." Minato said stiffly. The hand that he used for shaking hands was causing him more than a little discomfort. "The fault is mine for giving you sufficient reason to find me suspicious."

"What is your name, if I may ask?" Sōhei demanded in a much more subdued voice than before, but his glare remained.

Minato stared firmly into the man's dark eyes and had a sudden moment of recognition. This was a man he knew once. Yamanaka Inaba. Minato eyes widened in his surprise. The man was a relic of his past, a man who was known to be one of the village's greatest pleasure-seekers. It had gotten so bad that even Minato himself, under the capacity as Fourth Hokage, hadn't been able to keep Inaba from letting his love for women, drink and narcotics damage his performance as a Shinobi. Even the threat of demotion only incentivized him to hide his activities. Yamanaka Inaba was the last person he would have ever expected to see consigned to a temple as a monk.

The man's fiery glare was melted, replaced by a look of confusion and hurt, and Minato knew that he'd made a mistake. Inaba was a member of the Yamanaka clan known to be able to pick up the residual thoughts of those he locked eyes with.

"I know who you are." Sōhei, formerly known as Inaba, said, his voice trembling. "How?"

Minato shook his head, and turned his eyes away.

Choro, the monk whose ear was missing, put a hand on Sōhei's shoulder. "Whoever our guest may have been, he is of the past. It seems our guest desires to remain anonymous." Choro said. "Remember the oath we have sworn."

Sōhei grunted as he tried to find words.

"Our guest has not properly eaten in two days." Chiriku said before Sōhei could speak. "We will be taking our leave." He gestured to Minato and then walked away toward the gateway into the courtyard from which they'd entered. "Come." He commanded.

Minato hesitated to follow. He stared quietly at the former Yamanaka. The man seemed in shock, as if unsure of what to do other than stare. "Inaba…" Minato started to say, and the man's face lit up.

"So you admit it!" Sōhei said excitedly.

"Dead men don't come back to life." Minato pleaded. "Let it remain so."

The Yamanaka monk looked into the eyes of his former friend, and Minato stared back. After a long moment, the monk looked away. "I see." Sōhei bowed his head. "To think that you once lectured me for allowing desire to control my life."

Minato looked down blandly at his friend. Those had been different times. Kushina had been alive then. He'd lived for her, breathed for her. His every motive always somehow involved her. Even becoming Hokage had been _her_ dream, not his, and he'd fulfilled it in her stead, pretending it was his own ambition that he'd fulfilled. As he thought back, Minato realized how much of a puppet he had been, a hypocrite among hypocrites. The degree to which he'd been emotionally attached to her could have been considered unnatural, perhaps even psychotic, and Minato briefly wondered whether or not he was mentally unstable. With a slight frown, he turned to follow after Chiriku, who was waiting at the gate.

It would be eight days before Jiraiya finally arrived with Naruto in tow. Minato would spend those eight days in self reflection as he busied himself with the chores of the temple. During those eight days, Yamanaka Inaba, or Sōhei as he had been newly named upon becoming a monk of the temple, would take every opportunity to work alongside his former leader and friend.

It was during the second of those eight days that Minato had his head shaved. He was inducted to the temple with a new name:

Kosa, Light Commander.


End file.
